


Summer of Love 2020 Lockdown Drabbles

by Tangerine_Page



Category: Led Zeppelin
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:26:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25689556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine_Page/pseuds/Tangerine_Page
Summary: Welcome to my August 2020 Writers Month challenge. I'm aiming for a 100-word drabble a day and hope to use it to explore Jimmy and Rowena's relationship through a series of creative prompts. If you don't know Rowena, she is my OFC from Jimmy Page Session Man - also up here on AO3 if you want to read it..I feel excited about this challenge and can't wait to get to know my characters more, I hope you enjoy reading. Please leave me your thoughts and comments as it's always a joy to connect with readers.🌸💕 Peace and love to you all, particularly to the House of Riot, a wonderful bunch of supportive, creative Zep loving minds and personalities, go and check our full collection for some wonderful works 💕 🌸
Relationships: Jimmy Page/Original Female Character(s), Jimmy Page/Robert Plant
Comments: 46
Kudos: 41
Collections: House of Riot for Writers Month 2020, Writer's Month 2020





	1. Tattoo Artist/ Flower Shop AU

He’d finally learnt her name.

He'd watched her deliver fresh blooms for a year.

Her hair was red like autumn leaves, tumbling down her back in curls. Her laughter, a gilded ray of sunshine, mesmerised him from the shadows of his gloomy parlour.

Although Jimmy’s demeanour came across as dark, the beauty of his penmanship hinted towards an inner hope.

His tools laid out meticulously. Sleeve rolled up to the elbow, cuff buttoned. Sharp needles peppering his flesh, ink contrasting against pale skin. He didn’t need a guide, for his hand looped the script instinctively and he knew indelibly: * _Rowena_ *.


	2. Quarantine

Rowena awoke early. Jimmy still sound asleep, his hair splayed softly as snow. She smiled and crept away from the warmth.

 _What would today entail?_ she wondered wryly, pottering to the kitchen.

She caught her reflection in the kettle, red tresses turned white long ago. Gripping the handle, she noticed wrinkled skin and sighed at the passage of time.

“Morning love,” he greeted her quietly and smiled at the breakfast tray with eyes that remained unchanged.

Jimmy made her feel young. In that moment she realised, she would gladly forfeit freedom to spend an eternity locked away with him.


	3. Magic[k]

As Jimmy’s soft wet lips closed around hers, Rowena’s senses awoke and her body snapped into being.

Her mind rushed with the colours of her emotion: blushing rose and sunset hues. Fizzing. Bubbling. Torrents of pounding pinks and screaming crimson.

Her heart hammered a tattoo inside of her ribcage. Blood rushing to the surface. Fine hairs standing on end. An electric shiver down her spine.

Jimmy felt the colour through their kiss. He felt her shudder under his touch. Her response was overwhelming. He could feel her thoughts and desires. He could sense the future and it felt like magick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I put my hands up - this has been drabbled down from a chapter in Jimmy Page Session Man. But I actually think the edit has made it better, more succinct. 😊


	4. Long Distance Relationship

* _3 rings_ *

“Jimmy..?..”

“Sorry babe, I got cut off..” arousal was thick in his voice - it sent a pulse of heat to her core.

Rowena moaned softly, glancing down at the tangled sheets, her curves barely contained by cream lace. A matching set bought for their last night together - she’d wanted him to remember her. She felt unease at Zeppelin’s first American Tour. Other women. The panties almost hadn’t made it as Jimmy took them in his teeth, teasing her, retaining eye contact unfalteringly, pushing her in sweet waves to the brink.

“Where were we?” he whispered.

He’d never forget.


	5. Soulmates

Jimmy lay on his back, sweet smells of summer grass and wildflowers hung in the air - entwining with the inimitable scent of her - muddled by his own musk.

Rowena rested her flame coloured curls on Jimmy’s lightly rising chest. Her hand smoothing his stomach, lower shirt-buttons undone. He cupped her curves - they fitted like a jigsaw - his missing piece.

Around them the hot hum of insects, oblivious to their honeyed silence.

“Baby?” She whispered, sensing his contemplation.

Jimmy’s heart swelled. He felt _forever_ in her word. Somehow he’d always known - in his deepest Self - she was his True Will.


	6. Ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1984 * Jimmy has a young daughter with Rowena.

“Daddy I can see the sea!!”

Jimmy smiled at the mop of dark curls in the rearview mirror.

*

Though he’d rolled his trousers to the ankle the hems were salt-crusted and damp from the rushing waves.

“Again!…”

Long index fingers held by tiny hands. Jimmy’s torso bent over, a familiar position.

He gazed to the horizon, squinting his eyes against the dancing sparkle.

The ocean always reminded him of _her_. Beguiling, an unrelenting energy, enticing him in - but ready to pull him under.

What he wouldn’t give to feel her pull now. Jimmy tasted hot salt on his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like that this is ambiguous due to the 100 word cap.. For this chapter I kind of see Jimmy in his 1984 post Zep tattered state [hot, skinny, retreated, struggling, slightly lost]. Perhaps he and Rowena are struggling to work through this, much like he did with Charlotte & Scarlet.. He is in turmoil and the ocean is reflecting this energy. Or maybe Rowena is away on tour and he just misses her [fluff alternative]! Would love to know your thoughts on this one 😊🌸💕


	7. Hurt/ Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Jimmy & Rowena's dressing room.. 1974-ish.. Jimmy is home from tour and is causing trouble with his loose tongue*

“Baby..?”

“Jimmy, I don’t want to talk about this now.”

Rowena blotted her lips, peering critically into the mirror.

“…”

“It’s my big night.”

“Baby, you’ll be great.”

“That’s not what you said earlier..”

“You..

..I..

..didn’t mean..

..not like that..”

“Well how did you mean it?” Rowena’s eyes flashed a challenge that Jimmy knew better than to accept.

He'd stung her. It shocked him.

“Here, let me,” he offered softly. Stepping behind her, taking the thin gold chain between his dexterous fingers. Her neck was open to him. He bit his lip, this could go one of two ways..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The whole tone of this piece lies in one line.. I found it completely changed the mood and sense of menace when I tweaked it.. I hate writing Jimmy bad, but this one I settled on kind of hints that there might be some darker undertones to our sweet Jimmy.. and it's shocked him that he has this capacity to be hurtful to her. I deliberated over this for so long, I know Jimmy was self destructive, but was he cruel to others? Yes I think he might have been, with some of the tales of his groupies - dropping one for another in quite a cold manner. So I think perhaps there could be this facet to him 😢 but here I've given the opportunity to notice it..  
> I do feel that he could probably smooch his way out of any situation though.. poor Rowena! [although who's to say she wont slap him if he tries!] 😹
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who's reading and commenting. I'm really enjoying these prompts and just 'going with it' rather than over thinking it all. Your observations are so welcome and wonderful 🌸💕


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> June 1st 1970

Jimmy paced the kitchen, phone pressed to his ear, brow furrowed; coiled chord stretching and contracting with every agitated lap.

“You will have to move the other acts,” he said quietly, his voice coloured cold with steel.

Rowena bit her lip, eavesdropping from the pantry. Jimmy had become obsessed with the Bath festival at the end of the month. Specifically the time that Zep would take to the stage. He wanted sunset and drama, he wouldn’t let it rest.

“We’re going on at 8. That’s the end of it. Goodbye Richard.”

*click*

…

“ _Must be perfect_ ,” he whispered into steepled fingertips.


	9. Illness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok people it's time for some JIMBERT!!!!!

“Baby?” Jimmy croaked.

“Yes Jimmylove," Robert sighed, feeling slightly disorientated, eyes heavy with sleep.

“Could you make me some more special tea?”

“Hmmm..?” he rolled over - opening one lid tentatively.

“The one with the little lemon flowers in..”

“Uh huh..?” it was 6am.

“And a spoonful of honey,” he coughed.. unconvincingly..

“Are you still feeling rotten?”

“Oh yes, I’m burning up..”

Robert put a sleepy hand on his forehead.

"You feel ok to me?”

“Oh that’s not where I’m feeling hot.. Try lower..”

“Jimmy! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were taking advantage of my good nature!”


	10. Bunnies

Rowena carried the box of hay - tiny brown ears nestled and peeping.

The house was quiet. Must be in the garden. She couldn’t wait to see their faces.

Stepping through to the orchard she found them playing in the shade. Jimmy stretched out on a tartan blanket. Possibly the same one on which their daughter was conceived she smirked.

“Mummy!!”

Tiny arms and sticky hands clasped her legs.

Jimmy shaded his face, eyes crinkled in deep crescents.

“What’s Mummy got..?” Apprehension.

She set the box on the lawn, eyes on Jimmy.

“Bab-bits!!” * _excited toddler babbling_ *

The crescents narrowed.. “hmmm..!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jimmy - typical dad response when it comes to pets.. I expect he doesn't want them chewing up the antique furniture.. 😹  
> This was a speedy one, back to the day job 😬


	11. Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Madison Square Garden 1973

The stadium was in complete darkness - save for the intermittent pinpricks from the audience as they lit up or attempted photography.

Jimmy was dripping with hot backstage anticipation. He rubbed his nose - a reflex. It still tingled. His fingers rapidly traced the fretboard, slippery but feeling limber.

Dancing on the balls of his feet he was a thoroughbred at the starting gate.

_Cracking drumsticks._ Bonzo’s cue. _1..2..3..4_

Jimmy exploded on stage. His body twisting and writhing into the riff. It felt so good. Bathed in spotlight he got himself off in-front of thousands of intoxicated fans.


	12. Meet [cute]

Jimmy tore through the emergency ward in a complete flap.

“Where is she? My wife? Rowena?” He gasped to anyone in a white coat that would listen.

A nurse took pity on him - he followed her through the labyrinth.

Jimmy had legged it from the Starship as soon as they’d touched down - he’d had a bad feeling about this tour. Leaving her. He twitched constantly in the backseat. He had to get to her.

“She’s in here Mr Page. _Please_ try to calm yourself.”

Jimmy burst in.

He was too late.

Tears flooded his cheeks.

“Jimmy, baby, meet your daughter..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies - here have some crackers with this cheese 😹🙈🌸💕


	13. Music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1981

Jimmy sat in the worn leather chair, tumbler of whiskey nursed between his long, gaunt fingers. The calluses had gone. Long gone. He couldn’t feel them as he habitually ran his thumb nail across the pads. Soft. Baby soft.

His hard shell of showmanship bravado was cracked. Fragmented. Almost beyond repair and he’d retreated into himself. Soft inside. Weakened.

This was his night. His day.

He mourned more than the loss of a friend.Without him, the music meant nothing. Without music then..

Music had been his life. It was his heartbeat, melody coursing through his veins.

But now..

silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh, sorry. Bonzo 🖤 This was inspired by the Old Grey Whistle Test episode in 1984 with Jimmy & Roy Harper playing together in the Lake District. Jimmy quietly admits during the interview that he didn't touch a guitar for 18 months after John passed. He couldn't even bring himself to look at it.


	14. Metamorphosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spring 1984

It was the first morning he could breathe.

_Where was he?_

Sunlight punctured the canopy sending dappled shafts of pollen-caught light dancing across his crumpled body.

He was naked. _How?_

He stretched cold limbs. Splaying fingers into the ground. Soft ground, scented, like petals. He’d been curled in a nest of blossom.

Jimmy blinked through sleep drenched eyes, he felt a strange sense of renewal.

He heard the gentle strain of voice over acoustic guitar and followed the melody - entranced.

He saw her, as for the first time.

“ _Welcome back baby_ ,” she whispered - green eyes betraying sorrow and solace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one really follows on from yesterday's chpt 13: Music, depicting a moment or key turning point of Jimmy’s metamorphosis out of his deeply dark place. I’ve written this to be almost fairytale like in it’s delicate ethereal spring beauty. I see Rowena battle worn, picking soft, sad melodies, bathed in dawn light, flowers twined in her hair as Jimmy comes back to her, emerging from the trees - she will always wait for him.


	15. Coffee Shop AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1971 a fun and fluffy Jimbert set on Page & Plant's Goat Farm. They have a wonderful cafe called Darlene's.

Jimmy mixed the muffin batter, humming to himself as the sunlight streamed through the open window. A vase of wild honeysuckle and jasmine sat on the countertop, tiny white butterflies dancing between the sweet blooms.

“Jimmylove, what’s that wonderful smell?” Robert asked skipping into their tiny coffee shop, shaking diamond dew from his golden curls and placing the pale of fresh goat milk on the counter next to the flowers.

“New recipe..” Jimmy smiled shyly, hiding behind perfect ebony curls. “There’s a batch cooling on the window sill.”

“I'll make us a goat milk latte and we can try one.”


	16. History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimmy remembers everything.

Jimmy thumbs the spines, slender, worn and faded. He pulls one from the shelf at random. Tracing his fingers across the artwork, the lettering, he smiles in recognition - like meeting an old friend.

He slips the black disc from the paper-white sleeve, placing it carefully onto the turntable. The needle bucks and hisses into the groove.

The first notes strike out.

He is taken back. Jeff’s bedroom floor. 1956. Scent of gym socks and maths books.

These records are history. His own life’s journey, but also journeys of countless others. Their stories, passions and pains written in every note.


	17. Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Jimbert set at Tower House, London.

Jimmy was pink from the bath. His hair smelled like flowers. He was buttoned up to the neck and down to the wrists. Robert had dismissed the staff for the evening, insisting he wanted to cook.

Jimmy entered the kitchen. Robert was at the sink, golden curls tumbling between his shoulder blades, firm peach on show below the white bow of his pinny. Jimmy rolled his eyes. He should’ve known.

“Happy anniversary Jimmylove” Robert turned, crooked smile, handing him a glass of champagne.

Jimmy sipped the bubbles, raising his eyebrow.

“Would you like me to get started on the cucumber?”


	18. Myths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimbert

“Have you seen all this stuff they’re saying about you Jim, y’know, selling your soul to the devil ’n’all?” Robert asked. Cream cake in hand, belly down, flicking through the NME.

Jimmy looked up and rolled his eyes, giving his trademark flick-of-the-head that was usually reserved for Robert’s anecdotes.

“Not that again?!”

“Mmm, they’re saying you sold it to old beee-el-zeee-bub to make you, y’know _good_ at the guitar..”

“If only they knew the real content of that pact..” Jimmy muttered, smirking to himself as he twirled a perfect ebony curl around his finger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a long running joke about the primped perfection of Jimmy's hair. We joked that the so called pact with the devil that Jimmy made was nothing about guitar playing skills, rather he sold his soul in exchange for perfect hair!!! 😹So this one is dedicated to Moonie and Leds 🖤Moonie actually made an amazing piece of art depicting this scene too, it is in the depths of my Tumblr, if I find it I will post a link!


	19. Deaging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1978 Tower House Attic

Moonlight crept through the cracked tiles. A shaft of white slicing the darkness and catching the gilded frame. The dust sheet lay crumpled on the floor. A pair of beautiful emerald eyes, set over the soft rose-blush of rounded cheeks, lips parted in laughter, forming the visage of a handsome young man, the world at his feet, adventures before him..

Jimmy sat at the foot of the painting. Gaunt, trembling and craving.

The portrait was no longer working. He was lost. He didn’t know how to make it right.

He tightened the knot above his elbow. Administered and howled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a play on Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray. It's dark. I'm not sure I like it. But it came to me. It attempts to capture or explore a side of Jimmy's anguish during this time... I'm so grateful that he came through it. Somehow.


	20. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13th April 1970 Montreal Airport Canada

“Where is she?” Jimmy stood at the carousel, anxiously wringing his hands.

Eyeballing case after case that flopped onto the conveyor.

“She can’t not be here.. I saw her.. Minneapolis.. Right next to Number one.. Behind Danelectro.. I can’t..” Jimmy muttered in what sounded like tongues to the others.

“I’m sure it’ll turn up Jim,” Bonzo clapped his shoulders, almost knocking him to the ground. “Lets get a drink. I’m parched. Cole, you useless twat - keep an eye out for Jimmy’s Black Lady would ya. Bring it to t’pub.”

“Black _Beauty_ ,” Jimmy murmured. Nauseous. He knew, somehow, she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Black Beauty was Jimmy’s main session guitar between 1962-1967. She was stolen at Minneapolis airport in April 1970 - the last footage of this beautiful guitar can be seen in Royal Albert Hall 9th Jan 1970 (on Jimmy’s birthday no less). Zep were flying on to Canada for the next date in this spring tour, which is where the fic is set.  
> Jimmy is such a careful conservator. He is so sentimental. Quite how he felt after Black Beauty was stolen I can’t imagine. Nauseated loss seems to be the obvious start of a probable well of emotions that would bubble up inside him.  
> So this is the loss that I chose to explore, and to be honest it has a happy ending as Jimmy was reunited with her in 2015. But sadly she lives in the Met now. If I were Black Beauty I’d still want Jimmy’s old hands around my neck and body 😉 😈


	21. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> March 1975 | Arrivals Gate, Heathrow Airport, London

Another American tour was over.

Jimmy watched from behind dark glasses as the boys hugged their wives and kissed their children.

Three tiny red heads clustered around John’s legs as he clutched Mo to his chest - she gave Jimmy a small wave and smile of sympathy from John’s shoulder.

Charlotte and he weren’t getting on so well..

The truth was, to Jimmy, _they_ were his family. His hard and heavy next-of-kin. They rode the highs and crashed through the lows. They’d seen him soar, at his very best. Robert alone, had counselled his worst.

Nobody knew him better.


	22. Pet Shop AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts/ Led Zep AU - the boys are running a magical pet emporium..

Lori entered the _Emporium_ clutching her satchel, robes self-consciously riding her thighs.

“Ello love,” Bonzo greeted from the counter. “What can I get yer? Colour changing Quoll - seem popular this term?!”

“N-no..” she stammered. “I want a.. d-dragon”

“A dragon!?” Bonzo nearly fell off his stool. “Yer gonna ‘ave to speak to the Dark L- you’re ‘ave ter speak to Mister Jimmy ‘bout that!”

“Yes,” she breathed. Eyes glinting. Excited fear.

Bonzo guided her to the basement hatchery - it felt hotter than hell.

“Come in..” Jimmy beckoned softly.

*

_Dragons seemed very popular with pretty schoolgirls_ Bonzo mused to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a bizarre one! But can kind of see this - I had loads of other ideas for Robert and Jonesy in this scenario, but had to keep it to 100 words! 😹


End file.
